The four key sections of your RFP
Finally, the time has come to bring all of these pieces together into a single RFP document. If you’ve followed closely the preliminary steps above, then this part should be fairly straightforward. You just need to set aside some time to write it.
There are a few ways to structure this document. More often than not, however, the content you provide in the RFP will generally fall into these four key categories:
Remember, just because you know your business inside and out doesn’t mean that the vendors you’ve shortlisted do. It’s your job to give them some context.
So, in building out this section you should aim to provide the following information:
Clearly explain what your company does and, if relevant, add a few details about your company’s history. You don’t need to go into too much detail here, but at the same time you want to present your business in a thoughtful way. The goal is to set the tone and provide some context around your current business to-date as well as where it’s going in the future based on aforementioned business and HR strategies.
This is where you state why you’re conducting this RFP in the first place and how the end result of this RFP process will allow you to deliver on your business’s strategic goals and objectives. As part of this, you should be crystal clear about the current talent management challenges you’re looking to overcome, the gaps you’ve had with past solutions, and the results you’re hoping to achieve in the future.
You may also want to include details about your business’s vision and mission, key industry and sector trends causing you to evolve your HR (software) strategy, or upcoming growth initiatives and expansion efforts you’ve got planned.
In other words, this is all about painting a picture to help vendors understand your needs, so they can step into your shoes as they put together their proposals for you.
When writing this section, a “less is more” approach is always a winning strategy. You want to give vendors a launchpad, not overwhelm them with every detail imaginable.
Provide only the most essential information to help them build a stronger overall proposal.
This is where you get into your wishlist of features and functionalities as well as what your implementation or integration limitations are from a technical perspective.
Remember that wishlist you created in Step 1? This is where you finally get to expand upon it. This part of the RFP is not just a matter of identifying desired features and functionality in an endless list. You need to curate it a bit more by organizing those features around key HR areas of focus, like Recruitment, Talent Management, Performance Management, and Learning and Development.
Prioritize your desired features: You may also want to consider adding a brief explanation around why each feature will be valuable for your business and how employees will use it on a day-to-day basis.
Finally, if there are any integration or configurability requirements that vendors need to be mindful of at a per-feature level, it’s a good idea to call that out here as well.
Now that it’s time to formulate your questions, know that the answers you will receive will only be as good as the questions you ask.
To guide you, here is a full list of 60 top ATS questions and functionalities to include in your RFP.
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Every business comes with its own technical baggage. The vendors you’ve asked to pitch need to know early on what technical challenges—from implementation to end-user optimization—they’ll need to account for.
Not only will this help address costs, timing, and other aspects of the RFP, but it will also allow them to see any potential roadblocks that could get in the way of delivering on this request.
As a starting point, be sure to specify how you plan to deploy these new HR software solutions. Are you looking for something cloud-based? Or would you prefer to have the implementation done on-site?
Then, you’ve got to be clear on how you anticipate users accessing and using these new solutions. Will this be a uniquely desktop experience? Do you need a mobile app?
There are likely a number of other technical requirements and considerations that you’ll need to include in your RFP. This will help guarantee that vendor solutions pitched can actually work with your existing tech infrastructure.
As a general best practice, have your IT team weigh in on this part of the RFP document before sending it out to vendors.
To make this as objective of a process as possible, you need to outline exactly what you expect to see in each vendor proposal. Consider this their rules of engagement. Failing to set clear guidelines will make it harder for your RFP team to review, compare, and assess each proposal in a fair way.
As a starting point, be sure to provide vendors with the following proposal specifics:
The vendors that you’ve invited to pitch need to be aware of the key process milestones upfront. This includes the deadline for proposal submissions, timing around in-person or virtual presentations, and the date when a vendor will be officially chosen. The RFP timeline should also leave some space for vendors to be able to reach out and ask clarifying questions before submitting their final proposal.
You may want to see a PowerPoint presentation. You may prefer to receive video proposal submissions. You may want vendors to organize their proposal around specific sections that directly align with your evaluation criteria. If you expect to see proposals submitted in a specific way, you need to make that clear right from the start.
When you submit an RFP, you want to see proposals that have been adapted to your business’s unique needs and goals. A vendor that turns around a proposal a week or two after receiving the RFP has probably just given you a “cookie-cutter” response. Give vendors enough time—typically between four to six weeks—to think through the RFP and put together a proposal that shows they want your business.
Once you’ve set these basic guidelines, be sure to call out the specific details you want to see:
Who's on the vendor’s team? What’s their prior experience? How much time will each team member allocate to this project? The goal here is to get line of sight into who will be working on your business. Software implementation requires a lot of team collaboration on both the business’s and vendor’s end. You need to feel confident that the vendor has adequately staffed up to ensure that your software implementation goes smoothly.
Although costs alone should not be the deciding factor of an RFP, you need to know how each vendor’s projected expenses—from licensing fees to integration costs to ongoing support and maintenance—will fit within your budget. Be sure to specify that you expect them to provide a full and detailed cost breakdown in their proposal.
To ensure you don’t end up buying a solution from a vendor that could potentially fold within a year, be sure to request proof of financial viability.
Word-of-mouth carries a tremendous amount of weight in any kind of purchase decision. A vendor RFP is no exception to that rule. Ask the vendors pitching your business to not only provide references—in the form of letters from current customers or case studies (or a combination of the two)—but also provide contact details for a few customers, preferably in your same industry or sector, who would be willing to be contacted to answer any additional questions you may have.
